Love is a Battlefield
by isnt-it-obvious930
Summary: the trio is facing Voldemort, Ron and Hermione are facing romance, just as scary. R&R RxH i suck at summaries, please believe the story is better than this
1. Chapter 1

_Author's Note: Hey guys! Well, here's the first chapter of Love is a Battlefield for you. I actually had this story completely different; it was going to be my version of the seventh book. But, I was sure that I wouldn't be able to finish it before the real seventh book came out. So, I'm just starting from there quest (and I say quest for lack of a better word) to finding one of the last Horcruxes. Well, enjoy the story and **please, please, please** review. Especially if there's something you think I can fix. Thank you!_

_Disclaimer: No, Harry Potter is not mine. I know, I know, unbelievable. Surely something like that could only be thought up by the clever and creative mind of isn't-it-obvious, but no there is another with skills close to, almost equal to, mine._

_I'm joking. Obviously J. K. is much better than I am. Just in case anyone took that seriously, I don't want people thinking I'm cocky. Okay, now the actual story._

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Chapter One: Ravenclaw's Wand

Ron groaned, quietly. He hadn't eaten in who knew how long, his legs were shaking from being crouched down for so long, and he could barely keep his eyes open due to the lack of sleep he'd had. Nevertheless, he crept on, silently. He had no idea where he was. Some forest in some country where there was some horcrux waiting to be found. They had figured out, thanks to Hermione, that if anything was sensed three feet into the air or higher they would drop into an endless pit that would be revealed from underneath them. Thank God she had had the idea to send a patronus through first. Thank God she had decided to wear a skirt that was ripped so easily on the tree branch and was now at least three inches above her knees. "No, Ron, don't go there" he thought to himself.

"There." Harry whispered. He pointed upwards to the tops of the trees that surrounded them. A wand was entangled with branches but sticking straight up. So this meant they had to find some way to break through the enchantment that was stopping them from standing up without dying. Nothing was ever easy.

"A wand?" Hermione asked, quietly. She looked over at Harry.

"Ravenclaws, probably." Ron answered quickly. Hermione turned her head to him.

"Oh. How'd you know that?" She asked, looking impressed. Ron tried not to look too proud.

"Harry's not the only one who knows this stuff. I am capable of figuring things out myself." Ron shot at her. He tried to sound annoyed but was to excited that he had beat Harry to answering one of Hermione's questions.

"I never said you couldn't, Ron." Hermione said, quickly.

"Shut up!" said Harry. He noticed their voices were subtly getting louder and the last thing he needed was a crowd of Death Eaters to swarm on them. "Help me think of how to get up there."

Hermione and Ron stopped arguing and realized the difficulty of this task. "Apparating wouldn't work, would it?" Ron asked.

"No. Voldemort wouldn't be that obvious." Harry said, and Ron decided not to argue.

It was at least 20 minutes before Hermione came up with an idea. She looked up at Harry and bit her lip.

"I think, I might know," she said slowly. Harry turned so quickly the other two could hear his neck crack.

"Well, spit it out." Ron said.

"Well, Voldemort would need a way to get to it, in case he needed to move it. So we should try something he would do." She said, cautiously.

"And that would be…." Harry asked.

"I think Voldemort has his snake climb, or slither, or whatever it is snakes do, up that tree." Hermione said. She pointed to the tree where the wand was located.

"Anyone who can turn into a snake and hasn't told me, speak up now." Ron said. Hermione ignored him and went on.

"I think I might be able to turn one of you into a snake, so you can get up there."

"Might? You might be able to turn us into an animal so that we might pass this enchantment Voldemort put in the forest. But not for sure." Ron said. "Well Harry you can do the honors."

"We'll do a test run first." Hermione said, shooting Ron a glare. She whispered a spell and a nearby twig on the ground turned into an ivy-colored snake. Hermione then muttered another spell, so she could force it up the tree. The snake went up the tree without getting hurt. She then made it go back down the tree. Again, nothing happened.

"You did it! Hermione, how do you think of these things?" Ron said, clearly amazed.

"You sound surprised." Hermione said, not even looking at him. Ron couldn't help but smile. "Well, which one of you wants to be turned to a snake?"

Ron looked at Harry, who gulped nervously then nodded. "I'll do it, Hermione." Harry said.

"Okay," She took a deep breath. Then another. And another. "Okay," she repeated.

"Get to it, woman!" Ron said, impatiently. Hermione shot him another glare.

"Ready?" she asked Harry. Harry was pale and trembling and looked far from ready, but he nodded. Hermione muttered the same spell looking directly at Harry, and concentrating very hard. Harry began to morph, slowly, into a snake. When he was all transformed, Hermione pointed to the tree he was to climb and Harry slid towards it. In any other circumstance, Ron would have been on the floor laughing at the sight of his best friend in the form of a snake. Before Harry had headed toward the tree, Ron had even noticed a lightning bolt-shaped scar on the snake's forehead.

"Hermione and Ron watched, nervously, as Harry crawled up the tree, grabbed the wand and pulled it out of the tree's grip. Hermione and Ron sighed, glad there were no other tricks. Harry slithered back down to them and dropped the wand at Ron's feet. Hermione let out a final sigh of relief and smiled. She pointed her wand at Harry and silently turned him back to normal. Ron let out a laugh.

"You make one ugly snake." He said and Harry smiled at him. "Any idea how to get out of here, Brains?" Ron asked Hermione. She blushed at the compliment of being called "Brains" and then said:

"I think we should be safe to apparate out of the forest, but I don't think we'll be able to apparate much farter than 5 or 6 feet outside of it. So I'll just imagine the part-"

"What do you mean 'you'? We're apparating, too." Ron said.

"You haven't passed the test Ron. And this is the worst time to have someone splinch." Ron looked incrediously at Harry, but he shrugged.

"She's right. Let's not take chances." Ron scowled but did agree.

"Okay, Harry first," Hermione said holding out her arms for him to hold on to. "Just think about the outskirts of this forest." Harry shut his eyes and imagined the place where he, Ron, and Hermione had entered this forest. In a second, he and Hermione were being pulled inward, tightly. They could feel the air all around them. They didn't have time to take a breath before they felt themselves land on ground. They opened their eyes to find themselves on the border of the woods. Hermione sighed with relief. Now, all she had to do was remember where she had left Ron. She crouched down, making sure she wouldn't set off any alarms when she got there, and imagined the big tree she had just left. In an instant, she was by Ron's side.

"Hey." Ron said.

"Ready to get out of here?" Hermione asked.

"No, actually, I thought I would stay here for awhile. You know, build a vacation home." Ron said, sarcastically. Hermione rolled her eyes and put out her arm. Ron hesitated for a split second then reached out and grabbed her arm. It felt….right. Hermione flushed a deep red that Ron couldn't notice thanks to the darkness in the forest.

"Okay, here we go." Hermione and Ron shut their eyes tightly. They felt the wind flying past them, they felt their bodies being smashed together, they felt the force and the energy. Then it all stopped. Hermione opened her eyes quickly and gasped. She was still inside the forest. She could see the way out; she could see where the light was coming from, so she knew that they couldn't be too far in. But still, she had messed up.

"What happened?" asked Ron.

"I must have been distracted when-" but she stopped quickly and blushed again when she realized what she had almost said. Ron cleared his throat, awkwardly. "Should we try again?"

Ron thought quickly. "No! I don't want to mess up again. We're not in too far, let's just walk, well crawl."

"Um, sure okay." Hermione nodded. They started towards the light.

"I don't believe it." Ron said, out of nowhere.

"What?" Hermione asked.

"After Harry destroys the wand, we'll only have that snake and Voldemort himself. I don't believe it, y'know."

"Yeah. I mean, think about it. Only weeks ago, we were on the Hogwarts Express. The next thing to do is to…" she paused, "to face Voldemort himself." She finished. They stopped and looked at each other.

"You scared?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, I am." Hermione answered not looking at him.

"Don't be," Ron said nonchalantly. "You'll be fine with me and Harry." Hermione smiled shyly. They kept walking, but never looked away from one another.

"Whoa!" Ron said as he fell face first to the ground. He had not seen a twig and tripped over it. Hermione tries to hide a laugh (unsuccessfully) and leaned down toward him.

"You okay?" she asked smiling.

"Fine." Ron grunted and spit out some dirt. Hermione laughed again, which made Ron smile.

"Look, there's Harry." Hermione said. The crawled out from the trees and saw Harry, looking worried.

"Where've you been?" Harry asked quickly, helping them up. "What happened?" he asked Ron whose face was dirty and scratched form the fall he took.

"We didn't apparate far enough and decided to walk the rest of the way to prevent it from happening again." Hermione said. "Sorry if we worried you."

"It's fine, as long as you guys are alright. You are alright, aren't you?" he asked Ron.

"Yeah, I just tripped." Ron said getting up and brushing off his pants. Harry snorted. "Oh shut up. Did you destroy that thing yet?" Ron asked quickly.

"Yeah it snapped really easy. You, know this means all we have to do is take out Voldemort and his snake." Harry replied.

"_All we have to do?_" Hermione asked incredulously. "Harry when we 'take out Voldemort' we'll be saving the world!"

"Hey, it only took seven days to make. Saving it can't be that big of deal." Ron smiled.

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_Author's Note: Wellllll? How'd you guys like it? Please review! I love reviews with a passion! You'd be making me super happy!! Thanks!_


	2. Chapter 2

_Authors Note: Hey guys! What's up? This chapter has a flashback of the wedding because I really really really wanted to write about it and this was the only way I could think of doing that. You'll probably see a lot of flashback from me because there are certain parts I really wanted to write that would have happened earlier in the summer so I'll just use flash back to relate it to you. Oh, and thank you soo soo much for reading and commenting! It seriously made my day!_

_Special Thanks to: OzDust-very first reviewer! Thanks for a very nice review. It was very much appreciated!_

_Disclaimer: Nope, Harry Potter's not mine._

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Chapter Two:To The Burrow

"Where too now, Harry?" Ron asked as they left the wooded area.

"Well, I think we need a break. Rest up before… before the battle." Harry answered.

"Good with me. I can't remember the last time I had a good meal." Ron said, right on cue. Always thinking about his stomach, Hermione thought.

"I can. It was the wedding." Hermione said. Ron smiled and remembered that day.

_"And now, our newly weds will share their first dance together as a married couple." Mr. Weasley had said. Music started playing and Fleur and Bill started dancing. Ron had blushed hard. He knew what was coming. He really hadn't thought this far ahead. He had congratulated himself on asking Hermione to go as his date but had completely forgotten about dancing. Nevertheless, he turned to her, face scarlet and hands shaking._

_"Hermione, do you uh….I was just wondering….I mean, would you-" Ron stammered. He couldn't get the words out. Hermione places her hands on his and leaned closer._

_"What is it?" she had whispered._

_"Do you want to dance?" Ron asked, sounding much calmer than he felt. Hermione beamed._

_"Sure." She answered. They got up and moved on to the dance floor. Hermione raised her hand and awkwardly put it on his shoulder. Ron placed his hand around her waist gawkily and held out his other. She slipped her free hand into his and they fit like two puzzle pieces._

_"This brings back memories." Hermione said looking up at Ron. He was at least four inches taller than she. "Yule Ball memories." _

_"I hated that." Ron spat._

_"Did you really?" Hermione laughed. "I couldn't tell. Looked to me as if you were having the time of your life." Ron smiled, too._

_"Yes, well, unlike Vicky-"_

_"Oh leave him out of this. He's such nice boy." Hermione said._

_"Oh a _nice boy_, is he? Well, I guess a _nice boy_like him wouldn't try and put any moves on you, no matter how old he was?" Ron said, perfectly aware that if he was Krum he would have put moves on Hermione, too._

_"Ron!" Hermione said, half slighted but half laughing. The song ended and Ron quickly pulled away from her. _

_"Come on, I'm starved." Ron said awkwardly, starting toward the dessert table. Hermione grinned and followed._

"Alright then. To the Burrow?" Harry asked.

"To the Burrow." Ron said. "You know what I'm gonna do first?"

"Eat." Hermione said, blankly.

"No." Ron responded annoyed. "I'm writing Ginny. She told me to write to her at Luna's if we ever stopped back, so that she could come see us. But by us of course she meant Harry." Ron smiled and Harry pushed him.

"What's going on with the two of you, anyway Harry?" Hermione asked. "She seemed upset with you when I last talked to her."

"She probably is." Harry said miserably. "I can't blame her."

"Why?" Hermione asked.

"I broke up with her." Harry said, avoiding her and Ron's eyes.

"You WHAT?" Ron exclaimed turning sharply to Harry.

"I had to, Ron. People that are close to me seem to be dropping like flies. I coped without my parents, I coped without Sirius, and I'm coping without Dumbledore, but I know I wouldn't be able to cope without her." Harry said. "You think I wanted to?" There was a silence between the three of them.

"Harry," Hermione started, nervously. "We're talking about Ginny Weasly. She can take care of herself better than anyone I know. And I know that you wouldn't be able to bear it if something happened to her, but…but she's going through hell without you. And what could be worse than that?"

"How do you know that?" Ron asked.

"She's been writing me." Hermione said simply, her eyes still on Harry.

"She hasn't written me a single thing!" Ron complained, obviously not seeing what was going on in Harry's mind.

It was true; Harry knew she was going through hell, because he was too. He missed her like crazy. He was always thinking about her. And Hermione's advice had done pretty well in the past.

"So are we going?" Ron asked, oblivious as always.

"Yes, Ron we're going." Hermione said, impatiently. "Ready?" she held out her arm. Determined to concentrate on the Burrow, not Ron, this time, she closed her eyes and imagined a bright orange room.

In a split second, she could smell home-made custards and cakes. She smiled and opened her eyes. She was in her favorite place. Her favorite place in the whole world, wit maybe the exception of Hogwarts.

"Here we are." Ron said. "Come on, maybe we can grab some cake before Mom starts to save pieces for dinner." He went into the hall and started down the stairs, going two at a time. Hermione followed him into the Weasley's kitchen. Mrs. Weasley stopped when she saw Ron and Hermione.

"Ronny!" she shrieked and ran to hug him. He was at least a foot taller than her and could see over her head but embraced her all the same. "When you didn't write we got worried. I sent Pig, but he must not have found you. You write to me Ronald! Or you'll give me a heart attack!"

"Sorry Mum, we were busy." Ron said going red as his mother kissed him over and over.

"You're never too busy to write to your family, Ron!" she scolded and then turned to Hermione. "Hermione dear! How are you?" she asked as she embraced her in a hug, too.

"Fine, thanks, Mrs. Weasley." Hermione said.

"Well, are you two hungry?" she asked. Ron nodded vigorously.

"Um, yes alittle, but I'm going to get Harry first." Hermione answered.

"Oh, of course, dear. How could I forget? You go ahead and get him and we'll have a slice of cake waiting for you both when you get back."

"I can't wait." Hermione smiled, and disapparated.

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_Author's Note: Well, how'd you like it? Please review! I like compliments, complaints, and suggestions._


	3. Chapter 3

_Author's Note: Thank you everyone who reviewed! I can't tell you how much I love them! Okay, so here is your third chapter of __Love Is a Battlefield__. Hope you like it!_

_P.S. couldn't think of a good title for this one, sorry._

_Disclaimer: Nope, still not mine._

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Chapter Three: Wormtail, chess, and Ginny

"No, Hermione. That's the queen."

"Well she looks like a bishop." Hermione sighed. "Maybe we just shouldn't do this."

"No! You are going to learn to play chess _well _and that's final." Ron said stubbornly. Harry, who was lying down in Ron's room, rolled his eyes and went back to his book. That had been the only thing he had done the last two days. Although he knew he needed a break, he couldn't stop. He wanted to, no he needed to, be prepared. And he was, after all, missing a whole year of education. He felt he needed to read some of the 7th year text books at the Weasley's. Who knew what he'd find?

"Hey!" Harry said sitting up, suddenly.

"What?" Hermione and Ron both turned to him.

"Wormtail's in here!"

"What!?!" they both repeated. Hermione ran to look and Ron went to shut the door.

"It's a list of all the 1970 first years from Gryffindor. Look! Sirius. And there's my mum." Harry said, excitedly.

"There's Lupin and your dad." Hermione said. "But, how does this help us."

"Here, their old addresses. We can go look at his old house, see if we can find anything."

"Sirius's house isn't listed." Ron smiled. "Dumbledore wasn't kidding about his dad being so secretive."

"I'm home!" came a shout from downstairs. Harry's stomach did a flip and he pretended he hadn't heard.

"Ginny?" Hermione called back down.

"Hermione!" Ginny screamed. "You're here?"

"Yeah! We're in Ron's room." Ginny entered, face flushed from running up the steps. "Hi!" Hermione said, embracing Ginny in a hug.

"Hey! How've you been? I want to hear all about the horcruxes." She said.

"We actually just got back from getting Raven-" Harry started but Ginny turned her back to him and kept talking to Hermione. Ron gave Harry and apologetic look.

"Um, Ron, maybe we should go downstairs. I thought you're mum asked us to set up for dinner, didn't she?" Hermione said, shooting a look at Ron, as if daring him to refuse.

"Right." Ron said. He followed Hermione out into the hallway. He closed the door and quietly put his ear up to the door.

"Ron!" Hermione hissed.

"Shh!" he whispered.

"Come on." Hermione grabbed his wrist and pulled him to the kitchen.

"Hi." Harry said awkwardly.

"Hi." Ginny answered coldly, still not looking at him. They stood in silence for awhile. "I should probably unpack."

"Here, let me carry your suitcases." Harry said holding a hand out.

"I can do it." Ginny said.

"No, I know you can. I'm just trying to, I thought I would, never mind." He looked down, embarrassed. Ginny watched than felt a sudden pang of guilt for being so rude.

"They are kind of heavy though." She said quietly. Harry smiled and held out his hand again. Ginny dropped the bags and rubbed her aching shoulder. "Thanks." She muttered. They started to her room, silent the whole way. They stopped when they reached her door and Harry dropped the suitcases. They stood in silence until Harry spoke up.

"Ginny," he began. She immediately looked up. For the first time since Dumbledore's funeral, Harry looked into her beautiful bright brown eyes. He missed her so much; he missed moments like this with her. "I really need you to understand how much I wish this could work bu-"

"Bye, Harry. And thanks." She said quickly interrupting him. She opened her door, grabbed her suitcases, and walked in her room, shutting the door behind her. Harry sighed and decided to join Ron and Hermione in the kitchen.

They were both sitting at the table and turned to look at him when he entered. They looked at him, both wondering what happened, but not asking.

"So," Hermione began. She looked around nervously. "Um, when do you suppose we should visit Pettigrew's old place?"

"We could go as soon as tomorrow," Harry answered, thankfully. "I don't think it would be smart to go without at least one more decent meal and a good night's sleep."

"And we aren't leaving until Hermione learns to really play chess." Ron added. Hermione rolled her eyes and ignored him.

"I think, maybe, we should stay another couple days." Hermione said.

"Why?" Harry asked shocked that Hermione would want to delay something as important as this. She looked down.

"I feel like we're always moving. We haven't stopped for longer than a week in so long." She said. "Plus, I think it would be good for _all_ of us to, um, catch up with _all_ the Weasleys." Harry knew what she was doing. He was about to refuse but then imagined going through the whole summer without making up with Ginny.

"I guess a couple days wouldn't be too late." Harry said.

"Oh thanks Harry! I just haven't talked to Ginny in awhile and, well, thanks." Hermione said.

"She's in her room." Harry said.

"Thanks!" Hermione repeated and hurried up to her.

"So?" Ron asked.

"What?" Harry retorted, knowing perfectly well 'what'.

"She still mad at you?" Ron asked.

"I don't even know," Harry sighed, putting his head in his hands. "I'll never understand girls. I'm going anti-girl."

"That's a big decision Harry." said Fred, who had just walked in the kitchen with George. "but I'll respect it as long as you keep your hands of our little Ronnie," he continued.

"Hey Fred, hi George." Harry answered.

"How are you two little heroes?"

"Tired." Ron said.

"Ronnie!" Fred and George both cried.

"Look at our little champion. Saving the world and all." Fred said wiping away an invisible tear.

"It seems like just yesterday we were putting bugs in his milk bottle." George said. "I hear our younger sister is arriving today as well."

"Yup." Harry said glumly. "She's already here."

"Ah, you two are still having that row." Fred asked, wisely.

"I guess." Harry said.

"Where is she?" George asked. "We've got a present for her. We made a new candy and promised we'd show it to her. Turns you invisible."

"Wow. Sounds impressive." Ron said.

"Well it would be impressive if it worked. Right now it's turning everything invisible except the left leg. Where'd you say she was?" Fred asked.

"Up in her room, with Hermione." Ron answered.

'Hermione's here, eh?" George asked, elbowing Ron. "Imagine that." He and Fred went upstairs, laughing, leaving Harry and Harry and Ron alone in the kitchen.

"Hungry?" asked Ron, who was cutting himself some left over chicken.

"Not really." Harry said. Hermione came down the stairs.

"Ron, your brothers are insane." she said.

"Old news, Hermione." Ron said. "Chicken?"

"I'll wait for dinner." Hermione answered.

"Suit yourself. Hey, want to go upstairs and finish our game." Ron asked mouth full.

"If you swallow first." Hermione said, giving him a distasteful look. "Coming Harry?"

"I s'pose." He sighed. Once the three had gotten back into Ron's room, Harry resumed his book and Ron and Hermione headed for the chess board.

"Now, where were we?" Ron asked.

"You were showing me the queen." Hermione said. "It was this one, right?"

"Nope."

"Oh yeah, that was the bishop?"

"Yeah. Now show me the queen."

"This one." She said, pointing to a tall piece.

"Yeah!" Ron's face lit up. "And she is the most important piece because?"

"She can move as many spaces left, right, forward, or backward as long as she doesn't turn." Hermione recited.

Rom beamed. "You're learning." He said. "Tell me about the knight."

"He moves two spaces up and down and three spaces left and right or vice versa." she said.

"Yup. That's what I was in-"

"McGonagall's chess game. I remember." Hermione said looking down. "How'd you learn to play so well?" she asked. "You were all over the board taking out so many pieces. And you were so confident; you knew exactly what you were doing. How?"

"I played a lot at home. It was the only thing I was better at than any of my brothers. I always beat them in chess, that's why I love it." Ron said.

"Oh." Hermione said. They sat quietly for some time before she spoke up again. "Ron, that's not all," She began. Ron looked straight up at her. "You can-" but she was cut off by the yell of Mrs. Weasley, informing them that dinner was to be outside and if they wanted to eat they had to help set up. Ron, Harry, and Hermione got up and walked to the kitchen.

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_Author's Note: I couldn't think of a really good way to end it so there it is. Thanks for reading and please review. Tell me anything you did or didn't like. _


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